Ajahn was born in Germany, 1947, to Latvian refugee parents. They moved to
Toronto when he was four years old. Around 1969, while living in India, he
encountered Buddhism, meeting the late Samanera Bodhesako, who introduced
him to the teachings of the Buddha. He eventually travelled to Thailand to
become a novice at Wat Mahathat in 1973 and took bhikkhu ordination the
following year at Wat Pah Pong with Ajahn Chah. He was one of the first
residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery in north-east
Thailand. Having spent four years in Thailand, he went back to Canada to
visit his family in 1977. Instead of returning to Thailand, he was asked by
Ajahn Chah to join Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihara in London. Later,
he was involved in the establishment of both the Chithurst and Harnham
monasteries in the UK. In 1985, invited by the Wellington Theravada Buddhist
Association, he moved to New Zealand, accompanied by Venerable Thanavaro,
where he lived for 10 years, setting up Bodhinyanarama monastery. In 1995 he
came to the UK to assist Ajahn Sumedho at Amaravati and stayed for four
years before returning to New Zealand, where he lived until 2002. He was
living in Ottawa caring for his mother for nine years and is now resident
full time at Tisarana Buddhist Monastery Canada.
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